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Text of report by Dobrila Majstorovic headlined: "Eyes wide closed" by Bosnian Serb newspaper Glas Srpske on 11 September; boxes as published:
Al-Qa'idah still has its cells in Bosnia-Hercegovina, and it will never leave this country. This is a statement that Bahraini Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad [name as received], a former Al-Qa'idah officer, has been repeating for years. Ali Hamad has been serving his sentence in the Zenica Correctional Centre since 1997.
Ali Hamad was sentenced to 12 years for organizing a car-bomb attack in Splitska Street in Mostar in 1997, even thought, after nine years spent behind bars, he still claims that he did not do what he had been sentenced for.
In his confession to Glas Srpske several years ago, Ali Hamad spoke about his path of war, from Afghanistan to Bosnia- Hercegovina, where, as he said, he completed a course of training at an Al-Qa'idah military academy. As its officer, he became a commander in the notorious El-Mujahidin detachment. He talked openly about the traces of blood that the foreign mujahidins left behind all over Bosnia-Hercegovina. However, Ali Hamad noted that the relevant investigative and judicial bodies, which should have been concerned about his statements, did not find them interesting enough!
Ali Hamad joined Al-Qa'idah at the age of 18, when it rescued him and gave him a...